There is a thread on the FSM board, “Soundtrack Dealers of Yesterday,” which I have enjoyed reading.
I was in touch with most of those dealers starting in the late 1980s, first to buy soundtracks and then to sell the early FSM newsletter.
But the one that has a special place in my heart—because I visited it in person—is Footlight Records in lower Manhattan. In fact I still know the phone number by heart, 212-533-1572. (Here’s a NYC-related blog post from when it closed. Above pic is by elizabethnewyork.)
This was the first time I was ever in a record store that seemed like it was made for me, with rows and rows of glorious soundtracks by my favorite composers. Out-of-print, imports, boutique labels—it seemed like they had or could get it all. I remember flipping through the metal racks attached to the walls. The biggest challenge was not spending too much money!
The way it was built was so cozy—you went down a few steps and then it seemed to just go back, back, back. And the staff was always super helpful, led by owner Ron Saja, who was tremendously supportive of my teenage publishing efforts.
I’m sure most of the soundtrack fans reading this can relate to the feeling that we were like aliens in this world. Footlight Records was like stepping into an alternate dimension where we were the normal ones!
It also happened to be a short walk from my family’s favorite restaurant in New York, a Thai place called Siam Square on 2nd Avenue (also now long gone). There wasn’t Thai food on Martha’s Vineyard so when we visited family friends in Manhattan was our one time a year to have all those delicious curries.
Days of yore!